Do you know someone using clear aligner therapy (CAT) to straighten their teeth? Don’t be so quick to say “no.” After all, one reason so many people opt for straightening their teeth with clear aligners in Davie are clear. There are lots of people out there using transparent aligners to straighten crooked teeth without anyone knowing a thing about it. What do you need to know about this sometimes under-the-radar approach to fixing crooked and misspaced teeth?
How does clear aligner therapy work?
CAT involves wearing a sequence of clear and removable aligners to gradually shift teeth from their crooked positions to their properly aligned and spaced locations. Each aligner is slightly different than the one that came before based on dental imaging and simulations to plan the transitions in the teeth’s positions.
Those aligners apply controlled pressure to each tooth for a couple weeks at a time before the next aligner in sequence re-targets that pressure to continue their gradual movement. Aligners work differently than traditional wire and metal braces.
Traditional wire and metal braces pull your crooked teeth into position using brackets and archwires strung between those brackets. Unlike braces, clear aligners near you work by pushing your teeth. The push force is more gentle and therefore more comfortable than the pull force exerted by braces, but no less effective. Aligners work so effectively that teeth begin to move into their new position in a little as 24 hours. Does that mean that you’ll only wear an aligner for 24 hours before switching to the next one? No. In fact, you typically wear aligners from a dentist near you for one to two weeks before moving to the next aligner in sequence.
What needs to happen for teeth to be relocated?
Your teeth’s roots are covered with a substance called cementum. Cementum is connected to the socket of your teeth by a ligament called a periodontal ligament that anchors each tooth in its socket. Moving a tooth permanently requires influencing that periodontal ligament by gently but persistently guiding it through bone tissue. That is not a process that happens instantly.
As each aligner pressures a tooth in a new direction, the periodontal ligament on the opposite side of the tooth is stretched (the periodontal ligament on the side of the tooth in the direction it is being pushed is compressed). On the compressed side of your tooth, osteoclasts break down bone to allow the tooth to pass through. On the stretched side of your tooth, osteoblasts develop new bone cells to fill in the space left behind by your gradually shifting tooth. If you were to stop wearing your aligner immediately after movement began, the stretched periodontal ligament would not be strong enough to hold your tooth in its new (interim or final) position right away.
That ligament and those osteoclasts and osteoblasts need time to cement your teeth in their new (interim or final) position while the tooth continues to be supported and pressured by the aligner. You won’t switch to the next aligner until the ligament, osteoclasts and osteoblasts have worked together to be capable of holding the tooth in its (new albeit temporary) position without it slipping back into its familiar former position.
The cumulative repetition of this cycle under the gentle influence of clear aligners straightens your teeth. The best part? It all happens invisibly and comfortably while you are free to eat, brush and floss as if you weren’t wearing braces or undergoing orthodontic treatment at all.
Are you curious about whether you’re a good candidate for clear aligner therapy? It’s an ideal solution for many people with crooked or unusually spaced teeth. To find out if it’s an ideal solution for accomplishing your goals, make an appointment with a dentist in Davie for an assessment of your teeth.
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